All day confessions on April 9th, across our entire diocese. St. Joseph and St. Mary are participating.

Join us at St. Joseph between 7-9am or 4-5:30pm

Join us at St. Mary between 11am-1pm or 6-8pm

What is Be Reconciled Day?

Be Reconciled Day is an initiative of the Diocese of Rockford held each year on the Wednesday before Holy Week to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation more readily available and accessible to Catholics as they prepare their souls for Easter.

This year, “Be Reconciled Day” will be held on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. 

Bishop David J. Malloy initiated the “Be Reconciled Day” of confession soon after becoming bishop of the 11-county Rockford Diocese. Recognizing the need for God’s grace and forgiveness in the lives of Catholics, Bishop Malloy asked all 105 parishes in the diocese to set aside the Wednesday before Holy Week and, where possible, offer confessions on that day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The goal of Be Reconciled Day is to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation widely available, especially for people who have been away or hesitant about going to confession for many months or many years. “Be Reconciled Day” is a way to provide Catholics convenient and ample opportunities to obtain the grace of the sacrament to prepare their souls for Easter.

During this Jubilee Year of Hope, Bishop Malloy asks Catholics “Are you looking for hope” as he issues his annual invitation to confession through a multi-media campaign that now includes electronic outdoor billboards in Rockford, Freeport, Lena and McHenry.

 “The Lenten Season is always an important time for us to take stock of our spiritual lives. In the Church’s tradition of prayer, fasting and charity, we draw closer to Christ and to the Church. Our souls are laid open to be strengthened by Christ’s love, grace and forgiveness so it is a real privilege, as priests, for us to focus on the opportunity to offer that forgiveness especially to those who have been away from confession for a long time for whatever reason,” Bishop Malloy said. The bishop added that “ the act of reflecting on our lives and  confessing our transgressions is the perfect way to receive the hope and grace promised through Jesus’ death and resurrection.”

Bishop Malloy also suggests that Catholics extend a friendly invitation to someone they might know who has been away from the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to also take part in Be Reconciled Day. Parishes everywhere in the diocese are ready to make all welcome.

Taken from the Rockford Diocese;

Easter Flowers are available to order!

Every year we offer the opportunity to purchase flowers in the memory of loved ones both living and deceased, and these plants are used to decorate our churches for the Easter holiday. We will have white lilies both in single size and double size. And new this year, we are also offering pink begonias to add some color to our holiday decoration. We rely on goodwill donations from parishioners to make this large scale decoration possible. As always, you will have the opportunity to take the plants home with you after Easter Masses at both parishes.

All orders are due on Friday, March 28th – Deininger’s is allowing us to collect forms through the weekend as well.

Please do return all order forms no later than the morning of March 30th, or your donations will have to go towards the general flower fund for the year instead of Easter flowers. We have a tighter deadline this year to ensure plants arrive by Easter holiday.

PLEASE PRINT THE NAMES OF YOUR LOVED ONES CLEARLY to ensure that they will be spelled correctly in the thank you message, which will be put in the bulletin at a later date after the orders have been processed.

You can turn in forms by dropping them in the collection basket at Masses, make sure they are labeled “Easter Flowers,” bring them to our parish office, or mail them in to 229 West Washington Place. Freeport IL 61032

Single Lily – $20.00

Double Lily – $40.00

Begonia – $20.00

You may pick up the order form from church this weekend, or download and print here:

Thank you for your support, and for helping us make our parish look beautiful this holiday season!

Our Parish photo directory is now available!

Each copy will be $7

You can pick up your copy after Masses starting the weekend of February 2nd.